Development Corporation Poynter was a founder of Paragon Space Development Corporation, which develops technologies for extreme environments (like outer space and under water). While inside Biosphere 2, she co-founded the firm with fellow biospherian, Taber MacCallum, whom she later married, Grant Anderson, Paragon's President and CEO and several other aerospace engineers. In 2009 the National Association for Female Executives awarded Poynter its Entrepreneur of the Year award. Inspiration Mars Poynter was a developer of the crew and life-support systems for the Inspiration Mars free-return mission to Mars planned for launch in January 2018. The two person spaceflight mission was originally to be a private, nonprofit venture of 501 days duration which will allow a small human-carrying spacecraft to use the smallest possible amount of fuel to get it to Mars and back to Earth. However, this plan proved unworkable without significant funding and assistance from NASA. The life support system is critical: "If anything goes wrong, the spacecraft should make its own way back to Earth — but with no possibility of any short-cuts home." Former ventures Biosphere 2 Poynter was one of eight people who agreed to live in a sealed artificial world for two years from September 1991 to September 1993. Just twelve days into the mission, she was injured in a rice-threshing machine, and had to leave the Biosphere for medical treatment. She was out for less than seven hours. The project came under media criticism after it was revealed that some spare parts were placed in the airlock with her when she went back in. Poynter reported that low morale and psychological problems plagued the two-year mission. The eight crew members eventually split into two factions of four who hated each other. Other work Poynter also worked with the World Bank on projects to mitigate global climate change and grow crops in drought-stricken Africa and Central America. She is president of Blue Marble Institute, a 501(c)(3) non profit dedicated to leadership in science, sustainability and exploration. She serves on the City of Tucson's Climate Change Committee. Her second book, Champions for Change: Athletes Making A World of Difference is now a middle school program. Poynter has been an invited speaker at events hosted by groups such as the United Nations Environment Programme, the US Environmental Protection Agency, TEDx, National Space Symposium, NASA, MIT, and Microsoft. Bibliography References Further reading NASA Fact Sheet on Paragon ABS Science